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By David Rothman

image Barnes & Noble has filed with the FCC, as reported by Engadget, though it isn’t clear if if the Plastic Logic reader is the gizmo under consideration.

What’s your guess?

I suspect that it’s the same device for which B&N will power the bookstore.

Furthermore, though this is almost surely outside the FCC’s turf, the reader will most likely use ePub, among other formats—with DRM provided by Fictionwise, now a branch of B&N.

Speaking of DRM—and not just in a B&N context: I’d love for the New York Times to explore, in depth, how proprietary DRM lessens the usefulness of ePub as a standard.

Right now it looks as if we’re headed for B&N-DRMed ePub, Adobe-DRMed ePub and maybe even Kindle-DRMed ePub in time. A piece on social DRM, which Adobe exec Bill McCoy has talked up in the past, would also be a nice gift from the Times to its readers, some of whom just happen to be big New York publishers. Likewise a detailed look at geo-bans and DRM[related factors would be nice, with quotes from affected readers such as Ficbot.

 
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